Milosevic lawyers forbidden to quit as standby counsel News
Milosevic lawyers forbidden to quit as standby counsel

[JURIST] Two court-appointed defense lawyers for former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, on trial at The Hague for war crimes, have been told they cannot withdraw from his case. In a ruling Tuesday, the trials chamber of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia held that although Milosevic has been allowed to resume the conduct of his own defense, counsel were still needed to act in the best interests of the accused. UK barristers Stephen Kay and Gillian Higgins had argued that they could not defend Milosevic because he was not co-operating with them and because they had inadequate instructions on how to conduct his defense. The ICTY has issued a press release on the ruling here. The full text of the decision is here. AP has more.